India has ramped up its wind and solar energy. It now needs to expand places to store it

BENGALURU, India — At a Coca-Cola factory on the outskirts of Chennai in southern India, a giant battery powers machinery day and night, replacing a diesel-spewing generator. It is one of the few sites in India that runs on electricity stored in batteries, a key component to accelerating India’s recovery. energy transition away from dirty fuels.

The country’s lithium-ion battery storage industry, which can store electricity generated by wind turbines or solar panels for when the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow, accounts for just 0.1% of battery storage systems global. But battery storage is growing rapidly: around a third of India’s total battery infrastructure will come online just this year.

“Our orders are growing exponentially,” said Ayush Misra, CEO of Amperehour Energy, the company that installed the batteries at the Chennai factory. “It’s a really exciting time to be a battery storage supplier.”

India currently has about 100 megawatts of storage capacity from batteries, and another 3.3 gigawatts of clean energy storage comes from hydropower. The Indian government estimates that the country will need about 74 gigawatts of energy storage from batteries, hydropower and nuclear power by 2032, but experts believe it actually needs about twice that amount to meet its energy needs.

Some customers are still wary of using battery technology for storage, and storage systems can be considered more expensive than the more commonly used coal. The battery supply chain is also concentrated in China, meaning the sector is vulnerable to geopolitical volatility.

But markets don’t think customers will dither over batteries for long, and major Indian companies have announced major investments in the industry.

In January this year, energy giant Reliance Industries said it will build a 5,000-acre factory in Jamnagar, Gujarat. And in March, Goodenough Energy said it will spend $53 million through 2027 to set up a 20 million kilowatt-hour battery factory in the northern region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Alexander Hogeveen Rutter, a Bengaluru-based independent energy analyst, said the increase in storage capacity should be done alongside the increase in renewable energy.

“Clean energy combined with adequate storage can be an alternative to coal. Not in the future but now,” he stated. He added that it is a “myth” that clean energy is more expensive than coal, as current prices for renewable energy combined with storage are cheaper than new coal.

Global battery costs are falling faster than expected, and experts say that if costs continue to fall, energy storage systems can better compete with both coal and clean energy sources such as hydropower. and nuclear, which can also control their supply to meet demand.

“Battery storage is now the largest resource to meet California’s peak nighttime electricity needs. “It is more than gas, nuclear power or coal,” he stated. This is being replicated in the UK, China and even smaller countries like Tonga. “There is no reason why this can’t happen in India too,” she said.

One of India’s unique challenges is that energy needs are growing faster than most nations: the population is increasing and Extreme heat fueled by climate change It means that more and more people use energy-intensive air conditioning. India’s electricity demand grew 7% last year and is expected to grow at least 6% each year for the next three years, according to the International Energy Agency.

“The country needs to quadruple its renewable energy deployment just to meet growing demand,” said Hogeveen Rutter.

Ankit Mittal, co-founder of Sheru, a software company that offers energy storage and management solutions, said making battery storage sites more flexible can help the industry move forward quickly.

Mittal said battery storage sites should be made more accessible to the national energy grid, so they can supply electricity to regions most in need of an extra energy boost. Currently, battery storage sites in India only power more local sites.

To encourage further growth in the battery sector, the Indian government last year announced a $452 million plan to support an additional four gigawatts of battery storage by 2031. But the government also provides subsidies for coal plants, which which makes electricity generated there a cheaper bet for some utilities.

Future government policy could level the playing field. The country will announce a new national budget at the end of July that industry leaders hope will contain incentives for clean energy storage.

Akshat Singhal, co-founder of Bengaluru-based battery technology startup Log 9 Materials, believes better government support can help the country meet growing energy demand “the right way”, with clean energy.

“A significant policy change can boost the entire ecosystem,” he said.

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Journalist Mahesh Kumar contributed to this report from Chennai, India.

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Follow Sibi Arasu on X on @sibi123

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